Grier uses late FT shooting to down Southwest for 2013 county middle school boys basketball title

Published: Monday, March 11, 2013 at 07:37 PM.

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But Nate Hinton hit the front end of a one-and-one free throw with 19.4 seconds left to push the lead to five. And when he missed the back end, Diggs rebounded, got fouled and hit both free throws to seal the outcome with 16.2 seconds left.

“We kind of fell into the trap the first time we played them of trying to match their quickness,” Sloan said. “We slowed it down some this time and I thought we played harder and more fundamentally sound.

GASTONIA – Perhaps Grier Middle School coach Guy Spader knew the day would finally come this season where he’d have to find out how his Knights handled a pressure-packed close game.

Whatever it was, a month’s worth of countless free throws at practice came in quite handy on Monday afternoon in front of a crowd of about 1,000 at Hunter Huss High.

Grier hit eight free throws in the final minute to seal a 40-32 win over Southwest for the 2013 Gaston County Middle School boys basketball title.

The victory concluded a season in which the Knights were never beaten on the court, but had to forfeit their first two wins of the season due to an ineligible player.

But, before Monday, Grier hadn’t had anything remotely resembling a nail-biter as the Knights’ closest previous game of the year was a 64-43 win at Cramerton on Feb. 21 and their lowest point total was of 49 points in a season-opening 49-15 victory at Holbrook that was later forfeited.

“We felt like if we played well and played our game, we’d be fine,” said Spader, whose team’s final official record is 10-2. “We didn’t necessarily play our best game – and Southwest had something to do with that – but we found a way to win.”

The Knights finished nine of 12 overall at the free throw line, including eight of 10 in the final 1:05. Jordan Diggs, a 6-foot-2 eighth-grader who finished the season as the county’s leading boys scorer with 207 points, led the way by knocking down all four of his free throws to cap a game-high 16-point effort.

Southwest, which had lost 63-38 at Grier a week earlier to close the regular season, hoped a more half-court type of game would give them their best chance at winning.

A strong start and finish certainly gave Roadrunners’ fans hopes of winning.

But as Southwest coach Brad Sloan put it, “Rebounding, free throws and turnovers were going to be the keys to this game” and the Roadrunners lost two of those three statistical categories.

Southwest did force 20 turnovers, including seven in the first quarter and eight in the fourth quarter, to stay within striking distance of the taller Knights.

But Grier’s size led to a 40-20 rebounding advantage and, by comparison to the Knights’ nine of 12 free throw shooting, the Roadrunners made a mere five of 13 free throws.

“We spent a lot of time on shooting in the last month,” Spader said. “Each of them must’ve taken at least 100 shots a day in practice. And the kids did a good job and did what they had to do.”

Southwest did tie the Knights at 2, 4, 6 and 10, but Grier was never really pushed until the second of Antwanez Barnett’s two 3-pointers in the final 1:19 closed the margin to 36-32 with 25 seconds left.

But Nate Hinton hit the front end of a one-and-one free throw with 19.4 seconds left to push the lead to five. And when he missed the back end, Diggs rebounded, got fouled and hit both free throws to seal the outcome with 16.2 seconds left.

“We kind of fell into the trap the first time we played them of trying to match their quickness,” Sloan said. “We slowed it down some this time and I thought we played harder and more fundamentally sound.